We've got two boys here tonight and for part of tomorrow. Their mama was scheduled to do an all-nighter tonight and knew she'd need to nap tomorrow, plus they are not leaving for NC on Friday, they are leaving Thursday which means they have two days to get everything they are going to need for the summer packed up. It seemed like the most sensible thing to have the boys stay with us so that their mama and daddy could get things together. It turns out that Jessie got called out for work so she doesn't have to go in which is probably a huge relief as she can get more packing done.
Also, we get to spend some time with August and Levon before they leave.
I picked them up and we stopped at Aunt Lily's Publix to get a few things we needed and to see Aunt Lily. The boys were very good for me. Of course they asked for everything including Fruit Loops granola bars but they took my "no's" seriously and didn't belabor the point or badger me. They each got a free cookie in the bakery which is a Publix thing, and they seemed pretty happy with that.
We got our bread and our nectarines, our dark chocolate M&M's for Boppy, chicken for our chicken and dumplings and I also bought frozen dumplings.
What? Frozen dumplings, Ms. Moon?
Well- here's the deal. I always make the kind of dumplings I was raised on which are the fluffy kind. Glen, however, was raised on the flat ones that are sort of like big noodles. I've never mastered the trick of making those dumplings. I think you have to grow up in a kitchen with someone who does make them to really understand the process. But they do make some fine frozen ones.
Well- here's the deal. I always make the kind of dumplings I was raised on which are the fluffy kind. Glen, however, was raised on the flat ones that are sort of like big noodles. I've never mastered the trick of making those dumplings. I think you have to grow up in a kitchen with someone who does make them to really understand the process. But they do make some fine frozen ones.
Anne made these, obviously.
I asked the boys if they'd like to try the flat kind tonight and they said they would and so I bought a box of them and we'll be eating those. I've already boiled the chicken and have broth simmering with carrots and green beans, onions, garlic, celery, and mushrooms. I'll add the chicken back in when it gets cool enough for me to take it off the bone. And then the dumplings will go in.
Supper in a bowl. I'll cut up some cucumbers as that is the traditional meal for the boys. We also got vanilla ice cream at the store because they want root beer floats for their go-to-bed treat.
I'm already tired this evening and I really haven't done much. I worked outside for a little while this morning, pulling up a few things, trimming those crazy roses that send their thorny branch-arms out far enough to grab us when we walk from the house to the clothesline. If those roses were an animal, they would be Maurice who will also reach out and give you a nice little slash as you walk by her when she's sitting on a table or chair.
I'm already tired this evening and I really haven't done much. I worked outside for a little while this morning, pulling up a few things, trimming those crazy roses that send their thorny branch-arms out far enough to grab us when we walk from the house to the clothesline. If those roses were an animal, they would be Maurice who will also reach out and give you a nice little slash as you walk by her when she's sitting on a table or chair.
Right now the boys are watching some horrid thing on TV having to do with Ninjagos, whatever they are. Mr. Moon has run over to Tom's to check on him because he never answers his phone. Tom's latest plan is to get a different old friend of his who lives across the state, to come and help him repair his trailer so that he can move back into it. "I have the tin," he told Glen.
Glen is at the point where he just shakes his head. We've got to get hold of this guy and tell him what the real deal is before he comes over with a truck full of carpentry tools. Do I seriously think that Tom would just continue to live in that ancient, crumbling, now tree-smashed trailer with that lovely Tiny House right next to it, locked and empty?
Yes. Yes I do.
What can you say? Glen's done his job and that's all he can do.
Glen is at the point where he just shakes his head. We've got to get hold of this guy and tell him what the real deal is before he comes over with a truck full of carpentry tools. Do I seriously think that Tom would just continue to live in that ancient, crumbling, now tree-smashed trailer with that lovely Tiny House right next to it, locked and empty?
Yes. Yes I do.
What can you say? Glen's done his job and that's all he can do.
It's been so hot here and it's going to get hotter. There's no rain in the forecast until a week from Sunday and that's only 55%. How can they forecast that far ahead? They can't. Not really. The cicadas are singing their chant of rising and falling notes, the cardinals are chipping their evening songs, the air is still. The air conditioner runs continuously and the house is blessedly cool. We've got two cute little boys here and I've made up their bed in clean sheets. They won't notice but I will know. It matters to me. Tomorrow morning there will be pancakes, of course, and bacon. We're talking about taking them to the Wacissa. I got cut-up watermelon at Publix and we can take that in a cooler. School's out so it'll be a scene but we don't have to stay too long.
It's summer. No doubt about it. Hurricane season starts on Saturday. "They" are forecasting a season with fewer but more powerful storms.
This is not my favorite time of year in Florida.
However, I'm thinking that we will be eating tomatoes from the garden sometime later in the week and that helps a little bit. I wonder if I'll make a tomato pie this summer? Wouldn't that be grand?
However, I'm thinking that we will be eating tomatoes from the garden sometime later in the week and that helps a little bit. I wonder if I'll make a tomato pie this summer? Wouldn't that be grand?
Well. That chicken's probably cool enough to handle now.
Y'all take care.
Y'all take care.
Love...Ms. Moon
Those boys will have such a fine time mixed in with their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. Are the dogs going, too?
ReplyDeleteYes, Sophie is going too! The boys could not leave their little sister behind.
DeleteI sure hope those flat dumplings are good. I make the airy kind and I admit I frown on people who cut up tube biscuits and call them dumplings. But to each his own.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely time with those dear boys.
The dumplings were fine. The boys told me though that they like the fluffy ones better.
DeleteTom probably feels too fancy in his new house. Low self esteem probably. Mental probably...
ReplyDeleteHe ain't right.
DeleteThe idea of repairing the trailer is fantasy. I think he's coming a bit untethered, poor guy.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're getting extra time with the Leggy Boys!
Let me just say that anyone who would stay in that trailer for 43 years, even before a tree crashed it, is not in his right mind.
DeleteWe were glad to be with those very leggy boys.
I hope you have a great time at the river.
ReplyDeleteWe did.
DeleteI had clients in Florida that I visited regularly but I used to avoid the state if I could during hurricane season. Those boys are a joy. Tom is a piece of work.
ReplyDeleteI always thing of people who lived in Florida before there was any sort of meteorological science or communications systems, never knowing when a storm was headed their way. When it gets less than a hundred miles away you can sort of taste it, feel it, but of course it's pretty much too late to do a damn thing about it by then.
DeleteTom is indeed a piece of work.
Flat dumplings? I have never heard of those before. I remember my mum's fluffy dumplings and I just cannot make them. On the other hand I can make shortcrust pastry which she never could, so there's that.
ReplyDeleteThose boys are going to be so tall! It sounds like that rose is a rambler style.
With self-rising flour, fluffy dumplings are the easiest thing in the world. Flat dumplings are a very southern thing here, I believe.
DeleteI would love to try your shortcrust pastry.
I think you're right about the boy's height and the rose.
“The air conditioner running continuously” line caused an immediate flashback for me to the 1950s and 1960s when I was growing up less than two hours from Lloyd in Dothan, Alabama. Most people had no air conditioning then and I remember it well. We got our first one in the window when I was about 11 or 12. It’s almost impossible to imagine life without it in the Deep South now—or most anyplace for that matter.
ReplyDeleteHey Don! Have we met? Dothan is a very nice little town. But hot as the dickens in the summer, I know. I remember when my grandparents got a window unit for their little cabin down near the Atlantic. They barely used it. It was a HUGE deal. And I remember the first house we lived in that had a window unit. Actually, it had two. One in the dining room that was connected to the living room and kitchen and one in my parents' bedroom. Otherwise, we made do with fans. How did we manage? I would die now.
DeleteI bet your sleepover was fun and hope you are having a nice day at the river today.
ReplyDeleteWe had a good time, Ellen!
DeleteYour chicken and flat dumpling sounds delicious. I'm going to look for the dumplings as I've never had them but love chicken soup/stew. The boys and you always have such a great time together. They are going to be tall. Tall and handsome is great. A day at the river sounds fantastic. Tom might be feeling some loss of control hence the decision to repair the old trailer. Logic seems amiss.
ReplyDeleteThe chicken and dumplings were good. I do think that August and Levon will be tall, as are Lily's kids. And of course I think they're all good-looking.
DeleteYou are right about Tom. There is no logic there.
It's not uncommon for people to have perseveration after a brain injury, like a stroke, although maybe Tom was like that before his stroke. They're like a dog with a bone and will not let it go. Katie has perseveration too and it drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteI've spent the morning walking dogs and working in the garden. I've almost planted all of my annuals and dug up some dandelions. I was supposed to work today but we had eight nurses instead of five, so I took a vacation day, still trying to use up all my vacation days but I keep accruing more. Not a bad problem to have:)
Yes, Tom has had strokes but he is as he has always been. Only far more so. I am sure you know what I mean.
DeleteI can't wait to see what your flowers look like this year. You always have a beautiful garden.
Enjoy every minute of whatever vacation days you get! Somehow they seem more special than retirement days.
Something to remember: your husband did a wonderful thing for Tom. Even if Tom is being ridiculous right now, it does not lessen Glen's intentions. You are married to a good man who puts himself out there to help other people. Even if they have a few screws loose. -Debby.
ReplyDeleteDebby- I know that for sure. Absolutely.
DeleteOMG. I KNEW Tom was going to do that. If I were Glen I'd be about crazy. Perhaps over time Tom will come to terms with the fact that the trailer is simply uninhabitable.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm wondering whether I've had flat or fluffy dumplings. I am honestly not sure.